“Forsake
the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.”
(Prov. 9:6)

The
BIBLE GUARANTEES you do NOT need to heed a FALSE PROPHET (but “prove
all things” and heed and obey the Scriptures):

"How
shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet
speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not,
nor come to pass,
that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the
prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of
him." (Dt
18:20-22)

"But
of that dayand hourknoweth no man,
no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only."
(Mt. 24:36) Once Jesus arose to glory it is understood He did know,
but it is not revealed to man, and instead they we to always be
ready:

Watch
therefore: forye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what
watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have
suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready:
for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. (Mt.
24:42-44)

Introduction:

Harold Camping has once
again — and again — showed the world that he is a false
"prophet," and in so doing dishonored the name of Christ
and the Bible which he invokes for authority, thus taking the Lord's
name in vain. Having seen his prediction of the rapture fail in
1994, he continued his efforts and contrived a May 21, 2011 date
for the rapture and Oct. 21 date for the judgment upon the earth,
both of which failed, as no man knows the day or the hour as the Lord
stated. (Mt. 24:36) In an attempt at damage control when his
prediction of the May 21st rapture failed to occur after
the literal manner which the Bible describes, Camping resorted to
explaining it away as being a "spiritual" event. He next
suffered a literal stroke that left him difficult to speak, which is
fitting yet merciful for a man who has spoken so much falsehood,
without repentance.

While Camping finally admitted many months later (4-9-2012) that he was wrong, in reality
Camping's predictions do pertain to a prediction made approx. 2,000 year ago, that "of your own selves
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
after them." (Acts 20:30) And as God's "word is true from
the beginning, and every one of His righteous judgments endures for
ever," (Ps. 119:160) thus it exposes souls such as Camping who
presume to know what the Lord said was not revealed. And if it could
be, it certainly would not be revealed by a heretic like Camping, and
his perverse methodology

While it is evident in Biblical interpretation that a few numbers
(like 7) can signify something, it does not allow for the manner of
numerical contrivances and eschatological extrapolation that is
behind Camping's conclusions. Eschatology (study of prophecy and
future times) itself is overall an area which defies being so
dogmatic, while no historic doctrine has been derived using Camping's
methodological manipulation.

While
we have all sinned and dishonored God, for which we must repent, yet
in making his false predictions, Camping
has impenitently,
willfully and boldly gone to extremes few
have gone to before, with his erroneous esoteric eschatology and
egregious elitism and other falsities, and made disciples of the same
(Camping’s cult), and has effectively served as an instrument
of the devil who is the author of deception. In so doing, Camping has

flagrantly taken
the name of God in vain by claiming God revealed the rapture would
occur on May 21,

given occasion
for the name of Christ to be blasphemed among the heathen,

placed a
stumbling block before the simple who heeded him,

seduced them into
loss of substantial amounts of time and money

seriously
impugned the integrity of the Bible and prophecy among the ignorant
public by asserting it guaranteed his false prediction,

has made a
mockery of Biblical hermeneutics with his any-digit-will-do
methodological madness

propagated a
false gospel, that only those who leave the visible church and know
the exact day of the Lord's return can be saved

hindered souls
from being saved by true repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus to
save them (please see here
regarding that most important choice)

while also
teaching heresies such as that Jesus died twice,

denying eternal
torment,

the nature of the
church and its preservation,

damning all who
are in the visible church

etc.

May God in His mercy
grant Camping and his congregation repentance unto the acknowledging
of the truth. (2Tim. 2:25)

► Most
of the following was written before his latest false prediction.

OVERVIEW

Harold
Egbert Camping (born July 19, 1921) is the leader of an anti-church
movement which engages in imaginative, esoteric eschatology (doctrine
of the end times), being wise in his own eyes, (Prov. 3:7) and who
denies established Scriptural doctrines. He has already falsely
claimedthe
world would end in 1994,
but undeterred, he went on topredict
thatthe
removal of all true believers from the earth — an event in the
Bible known as the “rapture” (1Cor. 15; 1Thes. 4:14-17;
2Thes. 2:1) — will take place on May 21, 2011, followed by the
destruction of the earth on Oct. 21, 2011.[Note:
Even by Camping's calculations his May 21 date seems to be off, as
detailed here
(see below posts from May 16 and 18 as well), here
and here

That did not happen, and
so Camping said it was wholly spiritual, with believers in their
bodies being yet on earth as well as in heaven, which is clearly
contrary to the description in Scripture (see above verses). Yet he
holds to the Oct. 21 date as the literal end - 153 days after May 21,
and incredibly, invokes the 153 fish that Peter caught in Jn. 21 for
support. (ebiblefellowship, 2011/05/31) Here once again we see
Camping forcing Scripture to conform to his contrived calculations,
as his almost any-digit-will-do hermeneutic allows him to claim and
revise predictions as needed, his Oct. 21 prediction being included.

Like many other false
prophets before him, Camping invokes the promise of Amos 3:7, that
“the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth his secret unto
His servants the prophets,” inferring that Camping is one (even
though he denies it), and he states that the Bible guarantees his
prediction.

While Camping claims to
hold Scripture as the supreme authority for doctrine, yet, consistent
with most “cults,” he misappropriates its authority,
rejecting established truths and relegating all other visible
churches as apostate, while fostering faith in himself and Family
Radio as the uniquely correct interpreter of the Bible, and
disparaging listening to church pastors.
(http://www.familyradio.com/graphical/literature/judgment/judgment.html)

This rejection of all
other churches is based upon Camping's conclusion that the church
age, together with its clergy, and ordinances such as baptism and the
Lord's supper, has ceased due to its failures and Camping's
contruance of numbers in the Bible. He thus holds that it is
impossible to be saved while remaining therein.

Instead of belonging to
the visible church, those who wish to be saved are instructed to
gather in groups and listen to him and Family Radio, which overall
refuses to air ministries associated with the local, visible church.

In contrast to Christians
who are in local churches, those in Camping's congregation who spread
his message are likened by him to the 144,000 virgin male Jews of the
book of Revelation. But in this case rather than following Christ,
the Lamb of God, they are following Camping, the logos of deception.

HISTORY
AND DEVELOPMENT OF DECEPTIVE DOCTRINE

In 1958 Camping was a
member of the Christian Reformed Church and a construction company
owner who invested in a number of radio stations. He later became the
president of Family Radio Inc.

By 1970, Camping had
dated the Creation of the world to the year 11,013 BC and the Flood
to 4990 BC.

In
1988 Camping left the Christian Reformed Church in Alameda, CA.,
apparently after being barred from teaching. (see here
+ Christian Renewal Magazine, April 6) Soon after Camping would teach
that the Holy Spirit had rejected the local, visible, established
church (that rejected Camping).

In 1992, Camping
published his 551 page book “1994(?)” in which he states
that Adam and Eve were born in the year 11,013 B.C., and that total
years of Biblical history was 13,000-years. And that the devil was
unbound (after 1,955 years from A.D. 33) in 1988, (p. 512) which was
to be followed by a 23-year tribulation. However, he believed God
decided to cut the tribulation short, and Camping calculated that the
return of Christ would likely take place on September 6, 1994, with
2011 being a fall back date, and declared that true Christians must
leave their churches and listen to Family Radio.

Camping stated therein,
“At the beginning of this study I said that during the last
twenty years I have answered the question concerning the end of the
world with the statement. ‘I will be very surprised if we reach
the year 2000 A.D.’ After having done this study I now say
equally carefully, ‘I will be surprised if we reach October 1,
1994.’ And,

“By
God’s mercy there are a few months left. However, if this study
is accurate, and I believe with all my heart that it is, there will
be no extensions in time. There will be no time for second guessing.
“When September 6, 1994, arrives, no one else can become
saved.” (The end has come.” — 1994?, Harold
Camping, p. 533)

Camping also stated,
“There is no time left to trust your pastor or your church. You
must trust only the Bible.” (The end has come.” —
1994?, Harold Camping, p. 534) But since all who do not concur with
Camping are damned, what he really means is trust him to interpret
the Bible

When his 1994 expectation
failed, Camping went on, with his grandfatherly voice, to make his
present prediction, becoming increasingly imaginative and deviant in
his eschatology and doctrine.

In 2001 Camping continued
to teach, “this is the end of the church age,” and that
“through Family Radio we can have this kind of fellowship,”
and thus stated that “the gospel has never been sent out with
more purity than it is being sent out now.” (cf. Open Forum,
July 11,12, 2001)

Camping then went on to
teach that May 21, 2011 is surely the rapture, and Oct. 21, 2011 is
the end of the world. (“We are Almost There!,” cps 3-5)

Having dismissed the
pastoral leadership which the New Testament places over the church,
(Acts 20:28) Camping also rejected such commands as to baptize and
observe the Lord's supper: “...the New Testament commands
concerned with the ceremonial laws of water baptism and the Lord's
Supper which should be obeyed within the churches and congregations
until He comes can no longer be obeyed because God has brought
judgment upon the institution of the church. Thus, God has
effectively ended the possibility of the observance of the New
Testament ceremonial laws of water baptism and the Lord's Supper.”
(The End Of The Church Age And After, Chapter 13, page 232)

Camping did not stop
there, but teaches that “the Holy Spirit is no longer working
in the church” and thus “no one can become saved as the
result of the preaching in that church.” (The End Of The Church
Age And After, Chapter 8, page 107)

In
addition, Camping not only teaches not to pray for the church, and
rejects the full nature of the church, and commands given it, and
sound rules of interpretation, but like the so-called
“Jehovah’s
Witnessescult,
he teaches Michael the archangel is Christ, (“The End of the
Church Age...and After,” pp. 56, 197) and rejects the eternal
punishment of the wicked, imagining that texts such as 2Thes. 1:8,9;
Mt. 13:42,50; 25:41,46; Mk. 9:42-48; Rev. 14:11; 20:10 refer to
annihilation! Instead, Scripture shows that the devil, and those who
are deceived by him, being cast into the Lake of Fire, each suffering
according to accountability. (Lk. 12:48; Rv. 20:10-15)

METHODOLOGICAL
MADNESS

Camping stated in an
interview, "Because I was an engineer, I was very interested in
the numbers," he said. "I'd wonder, 'Why did God put this
number in, or that number in?' It was not a question of unbelief, it
was a question of, 'There must be a reason for it.'" (San
Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 1, 2010)

There is an obvious
literal reason for dates and numbers in the Bible, with its extensive
genealogies and historical records, and a few numbers can also denote
things (such as 7 representing completeness), while only in a
minority of times do they have prophetic significance, such as in
Dan. 8:14. And self-evident rules of hermeneutics (Biblical
interpretation) and the manner in which the Bible interprets itself
limit these to what the context, etc., support. However, Camping has
demonstrated that almost “any-digit-can-do,” a
hermeneutic by which he can “prove” most anything he
needs in order to fit his eschatological construct, in which he seems
to see a prophetic significance in every closet.

Many examples of
Camping's numerological contrivances can be given, but one is what he
extrapolates out of Jn. 21:1-14 in his book, “1994?.” The
Lord had told His disciples, who were about 200 cubits out in the Sea
of Galilee, to throw their net on the right side of the boat,
resulting in a catch of 153 fish. Camping takes that to mean that the
200 cubits represent about 2,000 years between the first and second
comings of Christ. (p. 503) Camping then took October 4, 7 B.C. as
the most likely date for the birth of Christ (when the Jubilee
Trumpet allegedly sounded: p. 418), and added 2,000 years, minus one
year for the year 0, to get 1994. As for the 153 fish, Camping finds
that 153 equals 3 times 3 times 17, and that “The number three
signifies the purpose of God whereas the number seventeen sig­nifies
heaven. Thus we can learn that [the] purpose of God is to bring all
believers that are caught’ by the Gospel into heaven p.
503,504).

Yet the 153 fish are also
used to support his prediction that the end of the world will be Oct.
21, 2011, 153 days after the May 21, 2011 date of the rapture which
failed. Scripturally, when the rapture occurs then all believers who
passed away shall arise, and along with those who are yet alive, will
be changed into an incorruptible glorifed new body, and forever be
with the Lord. (1Cor. 15; 1Thes. 4:14-17; Phil. 3:21) To the glory
and praise of God.

Camping’s book is
characterized by inconsistency. According to Camping, the seventy
sevens of Daniel 9 are literal years, except for the last three and
one-half. He calculates the years precisely up to the point of the
death of Christ, which he says occurred in A.D. 33.He then turns
around and says the last three and one-half years equal 2,000 years.

Camping
takes a page to explain the subtitle “The Prerogative of God to
Use Numbers as He Desires” (p. 403). This should be amended to
say that it is the prerogative of Harold Camping to use numbers as he
desires..(http://www.equip.org/articles/harold-camping-1994)

Years ago Camping also
demonstrated how he was able to see a prophetic significance in
virtually every number, by using the 276 saved from drowning in Acts
27 to relate to the final tribulation period:

"The number
276=3x4x23. It also equals the sum of all the numbers that come
before 23. Thus, 276=1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10...+21+22+23. By this unique
arrangement, God focuses our attention on the number 23."

"The number 3
signifies the purpose of God, and the number 4 signifies
universality... "

"The number 23 is
identified with the final tribulation period, when God's judgment
comes upon the church."

"True believers
within the church, represented by the 276 people aboard the ship, are
saved... The number 276, which equals 3x4x23, represents the purpose
of God that in all the world the believers who are present during
God's judgment on the external church - during the final tribulation
period - cannot lose their salvation..." (The Great Tribulation,
pp. 149-150).

BIBLICAL
TEACHING ON THE CHURCH

Jesus Christ established
the church in the New Testament upon faith in Himself, (Mt. 16:16)
who is the foundation, (1Cor. 3:11; cf. Rm. 9:33; 1Cor. 10:4; 1Pet.
2:8; cf. Lk. 6:48; Mat. 21:42; Mk.12:10-11; Lk. 20:17-18; Act. 4:11;
Eph. 2:20; cf. Dt. 32:4, Is. 28:16) and promised that the gates of
Hell would not prevail against it, (Mt. 16:18) fro by faith in Christ
as the Son of God believers overcome. (1Jn, 5:5; cf. 1Jn. 2:13,14,25)
And which is made up of born again believers (1Cor. 12:13; Eph.
1:13), and are led by pastors who are to oversee the church, (Eph.
4:11; 1Pt. 5:1) and who are to be obeyed. (Heb. 13:17)

While Camping rejects
baptism, the Lord told those that He commanded to baptize that he
would He be with them to the end of the world. (Mt. 28:18-20) In
addition, the Lord's supper (another ordinance that Camping's
“church” rejects as for today) is a remembrance until He
returns, (1Cor. 11:26) while anointing of the sick and ordination
calls for elders.

And the church is
revealed in the New Testament as a body consisting of believers with
different gifts and offices, (1Cor. 12:4-11,28; Eph. 4:11) including
deacons, (1Tim. 4:8) and is overseen by pastors, (Act 20:28; 1Pt.
5:1-14) these being elders/bishops. (Acts 20:17; Titus 1:5-7)

While the church is
essentially a spiritual body, into which believers enter upon
conversion, (1Cor. 12:13) there is no such thing as a world-wide
invisible church without any visible local expression, to which God
gave pastors, etc. so that they would not be deceived! (Eph. 4:11,14)

Camping also teaches that
local churches no longer preach salvation by grace alone (by teaching
souls can “accept Christ,” versus God choosing to save a
person), as well as by the rise of “signs and wonders”
teaching, which he says adds things to God’s Word, in
opposition to Rv. 22:18-19.

However,
multitudes of local churches teach that God elects a person and makes
him born again so that he can repent and believe, or that
regeneration occurs as a consequence of believing, but that no one
can come to the Lord Jesus unless the Father draws them, and enables
and moves such to do what they normally would not, with both rightly
holding that justification is by faith in Christ, not by any moral
merit of works.

As for miracles, one need
not believe all gifts are for today in order to be saved, but
regeneration itself is a miracle, and the fact is that we would not
have a Bible or Christianity if God had not done what Camping now
forbids. (Jn. 5:36; 14:11; Heb. 2:3) Nor are such things adding to
the canon of Scripture, but they are a fulfillment of it, (Mk. 16:20;
Jn. 14:12) like as works show faith. And whatever claims are made on
their behalf origin are also subject to testing by the Scriptures, as
is Camping's claim to be teaching “the Word.”

In so testing Camping and
Family Radio by the Scriptures, we see that by him teaching that the
Bible guarantees his prediction, it is Camping who is essentially
doing what he charges the local church with, that of adding to what
Christ did not reveal, while he subtracts from Scripture things Jesus
commands, which are to be kept until He returns.

In
addition to his doctrinal heresies, Camping is one the examples of
the manyextreme
date-setters, such as William Miller, or the so-called “Jehovah’s
Witnesses,”
who presumed to know the date of the Lord's return, and failed in
every attempt, as the Lord stated that day was not revealed. (Mt.
24:36) Camping even teaches the lost are those who deny that
believers will know the hour of Christ's coming, yet prior to that he
said that he makes plans for future business on earth (as
does his ministry, even while teaching he expects 2011 to be the
end.”
(Time
has an end, p.22)”

Many of the Scriptures
Camping contorts to conform to his end-time construct were written to
local churches, including the Thessalonians and Corinthians, which
believers were assured they would be taken in the rapture if it had
occurred. (1Cor. 15; 2Thes. 2)

While
an overall falling away will take place before that Day, the Biblical
church with its pastored, baptizing bodies will endure, while those
who deny this are actually part of the great falling away!
Nowand
not just May 22is
the time to “forsake thefoolishand
live” in obedience to Christ,
versus the heretic Camping and
his “cunningly devised fables.”
And whose false predictions offers excuses to scoffers who deny Jesus
and His return, and can hinder others from coming to Christ and being
born again by faith in Him. And which Jesus solemnly warns us
against. (Mt. 18:7; 24:11)

To
download a version of the above from before his May 21 prediction, as a''8.5x11''
3 column brochure, download the PDF file HERE.
To print in most printers, first choose to print only side 1, and
then simply pick up the last end of the paper that was printed out
and place that end back into the paper slot, the blank side facing
you, and then print side 2.

To fold, place the
beginning of the message side down facing you so that the beginning
(“JUDGMENT on CAMPING..”) is under your left hand, and
fold it up and over from the column line under your thumb. Make sure
it is even. Then rotate the paper to the right, and fold the other
end (the “Methodology” column) under the beginning column
you just folder and hard up against into crease. It will not be
perfect, but that is due to trying to fit in a lot of content I think
is needed, and keep it more readable.